Carlos Gomez - Passion or Antics?

[Eye Black]

So Carlos Gomez has transformed himself into one of the most valuable players in Major League Baseball over the past year, that part isn't really up for debate. But take Gomez elite offensive production and gold glove defense out of the equation for a minute. What I am wondering is do posters here love, hate, or fall somewhere in the middle regarding the way Carlos Gomez plays baseball? There was some discussion in today's in-game thread, but following the most recent incident involving Carlos Gomez I am curious what people think of his actions today, and in general how he carries himself on the field?

 

From many Brewers fans perspective Gomez is generally celebrated for his maximum effort defensively and unyielding hustle around the diamond while maintaining a fun-loving, generally positive demeanor. Even when Gomez is overzealous on the bases or breaks a bat over his thigh following a frustrating at bat, it is generally chalked up to his great passion and desire for playing the game of the baseball.

 

For some others, Gomez is viewed as a free swinger who is reckless on the base paths and at times comes across as a bit of a hot dog. When Gomez takes a swing that corkscrew himself into the batters box with helmet flying, or flips his bat after a HR, or tries to take an extra base that almost no other player in baseball would attempt it is construed as Gomez showing up his opponents. Some view Gomez overall approach to the game as laced with folly and antics.

 

I typically fall in the category that enjoys watching Gomez play baseball and I'll take the good with the bad because even when he makes mistakes he is doing it at a 100%. A good friend of mine however, can't stand Gomez and thinks his actions not only have made him unlikeable across the league, but are potentially detrimental to his own team as his teammates are likely to grow tired of him over the course of six month season.

 

Thoughts from BF.net?

[yfinn6]

Some of the stuff he does - the bat flips, HR sprints - make me cringe a bit, but I'm glad he's doing it for the Brewers. If he were playing for, say, the Pirates, I would absolutely detest him. The short of it all is that he helps the Brewers win baseball games, so I tolerate all the things he does that gets under the skin of the other MLB teams and their fans.

 

Regarding how he runs the bases, I get pretty ticked off when any player on the Brewers "runs into outs" on the bases. You have to have a solid mix of common sense and aggressiveness on the bases, and sometimes I feel the entire team is leaning more to the aggressiveness side. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, it is very frustrating.

[CheezWizHed]

I suppose if he plays well, Brewer fans will love him and other fans hate him. If he plays poorly, everyone will be annoyed.

 

Personally, I think its ridiculous that pitchers get mad when someone watches a home run. Sorry, you just served up a gopher-ball. You don't have a say anymore. And they call the NFL the no-fun-league? Gomez should do a Miller-leap next time he hits a homer!

[SRB]

Love him very much, loved him even after the Hardy trade when he was still a fairly mediocre hitter.

 

I watch baseball to be entertained. Yeah, as a diehard fan you get into it a bit where you suspend reason and become emotionally invested in what is in the end just a game involving grown men playing on a field according to arbitrary rules, but despite the seriousness that can attach to winning/losing it's still just entertainment. I don't believe in a counterfactual vision of "old school" baseball, I don't believe in "unwritten rules" (which, far from being unwritten, are very much written on ESPN teleprompters and in disgruntled newspaper columns), and I don't watch baseball to hear somebody lecture or scold players they dislike.

 

Gomez is entertaining, Nyjer Morgan was entertaining, and to me even somebody reviled like Manny Ramirez was entertaining. I think Gomez understands that entertainment is part of the game, and I honestly believe that to him not giving 110% enthusiasm is somehow not taking advantage of the opportunity he has to play baseball here in the U.S.

 

People need to seriously lighten up about whether a grown man tossed his wooden stick after hitting a ball. I understand that there are professional sports columnists who have to make themselves angry in order to write full columns on these type of non-events (and those columnists are the real source of the bizarre fantasy of "old school" baseball and "unwritten rules" and "showing up the pitcher"), but as a fan I could honestly care less. Gomez flipping his bat and running around the bases like a puppy is entertaining.

[Thurston Fluff]

I didn't see the game but I did hear both announcers mention he stayed at the plate a bit. But how long could he have stared if he still made it to third? Doubtful it was more than some of those same Pirates did at times in their careers.

Personally I think the Pirates are getting a little mad at getting beat every way imaginable and are letting their frustrations out. AS far as Gomez goes he's wound pretty tightly. He plays with high energy and emotion. If he sometimes gets carried away so be it. I for one would rather deal with an occasional flare up like this than have him follow a bunch of unwritten rules and lose his mojo.

[paul253]

The thing about Gomez's antics that bother me most is his inability to control his temper. I think it was game 2 when he struck out to open the game and immediately slams his bat down and then breaks it over his knee. Its something you expect from a little leaguer. In this case, if he is going watch his home run, which he knows is against the unwritten rules, fine. But then don't get upset when someone says something to you. And I'm sorry but he started the fight. Gerritt Cole may have said something but he was walking away when he did. It was Gomez who lost it and went after Cole. Again, because he couldn't control his temper.

[TNT]

Puig does twice the BS GoGo has pulled but one is becoming somewhat of a sports culture phenom and the other is frowned upon!?

 

GoGo has worked hard to get where he is and if I were him, I'd be just as arrogant. I love guys who play with that kind of emotion; it keeps the game interesting. Just imagine baseball with 9 guys on the field...each with the demeanor of Ross Ohlendorf...

[jjfanec]

He is over the top sometimes but whatever. I cant stand fans and players from Pittsburgh complaining about him watching his hit since the Pirates did that like 3 or 4 times this series. Reminds me of Cardinal or Cubs fans who complained about Braun doing it when they have had guys like Pujols and Sosa who love admiring their hits

[SRB]

The thing about Gomez's antics that bother me most is his inability to control his temper. I think it was game 2 when he struck out to open the game and immediately slams his bat down and then breaks it over his knee. Its something you expect from a little leaguer. In this case, if he is going watch his home run, which he knows is against the unwritten rules, fine. But then don't get upset when someone says something to you. And I'm sorry but he started the fight. Gerritt Cole may have said something but he was walking away when he did. It was Gomez who lost it and went after Cole. Again, because he couldn't control his temper.

 

Actually I would say it's Travis Snider who started the fight. You can fault Gomez for reacting to Cole but at that point all he was doing was shouting back (and backing away, as I recall), until Snider came out and said something else.

[chewy522]

I love the way Gomez plays. I feel like he is one of the few professional players who still plays the game the way he did as a kid (sometimes that's good, sometimes that's bad). He has genuine fun when he is out there and I think it rubs off on the team. Ultimately, teams tend to play better when they are loose and having fun and I don't think Gomez could be any more loose right now. Once Sveum let Gomez swing hard like he wanted to, he has been a new player. I think trying to tame him in any way will make him lose his edge. I agree that if he were not on my team, I would probably think a little differently. He has now become a very polarizing and entertaining player, both for his ability and his boneheadedness...reminds me a bit of Favre.

[brwrsfan]

I wrote this in the IGT but I think the "unwritten rules" are a joke. It's a game. There's no "right" way to play it. It's one thing to blatantly show bad sportsmanship, but this is a game. It's for entertainment value. As someone else said, why is it only baseball that has a problem with it?

 

NFL players dance after sacks and TD's. Soccer plays do just flat out crazy things after scoring goals. NBA players raise 3 fingers and whatnot when they hit shot. In MLB...you watch a ball that you hit for let's say 1-2 seconds, or you do a bat flip, and suddenly you're showing up the opponents and it causes ridiculousness. It's not a problem in other sports.

 

For what happened today and in the Braves game, Gomez may as well have crotch chopped toward the mound or flipped him them the bird. That warrants getting upset. Watching a ball for a couple seconds is nothing compared to other sports.

 

And also as someone mentioned, it's amazing how the media calls it charisma or whatever for some guys (Puig, Soriano, etc) but when certain players do it, like Gomez it becomes an issue. The Pirates also took issue with Braun a few years back, and that was on a walk off in a pennant race. Grow up. If you don't like it, play better. Don't get frustrated because you gave up a triple in the third inning of a 0-0 game.

 

Gomez lost it (we don't know what was said) but Cole went out of his way to yell at him and really ignited the entire thing. And it probably would have ended at shouting if Snider doesn't come out and act the way that he does.

[yfinn6]

It's loser talk, saying that a team isn't playing the "right way". The winning team is having too much fun and the losers don't appreciate it. It's always how it goes - well, unless it's the Cardinals or Braves. They'll just complain anyway.

[pitchleague]

I don't really have much of a problem with Gomez today at the plate. Yes, he "stayed near home plate" longer than normal, but it was still (at the MOST) only a "one-Mississippi" count before he jogged toward first base. It's not like he was Pujols-ian or David Ortiz-like and stood there for a good three-count while watching the ball go.

 

Overall, I really don't have a problem with a hitter admiring a home run that they hit (the "sure thing"/"LONG gone" variety) as long as pitchers (especially relievers) are able to show emotion in any way, shape, or form after a huge strikeout.

 

One thing that I do worry about Gomez, though, is this: I fear that he will now begin getting booed on the road in the similar vein as Braun. But unlike Braun, who feeds off the boos, Gomez will get get "angry" at the plate because of the boos and it will hurt his skills as he will constantly be trying to hit a 15-run homer to shut the fans up.

[NYChez]

Passion. Gomez deserves huge credit for keeping this franchise afloat during a nearly disastrous 2013 ... by being Gomez. He and his all-out style were exactly what the Brewers needed. The fans identify with this passion and his teammates feed off of it.

[DoubleSwitch]

I love Carlos, I love the way he plays the game. He's been my favorite player on the team since shortly after he arrived. He's completely electric, and outside of Sabathia's stretch run he's the most exciting player to play for Brewers in the 12 or so years I've been seriously watching baseball. He'll take his bad cuts and make a few dumb outs, but his confidence and aggression work out overwhelmingly in his favor in the long run. Plus his approach at the plate right now looks better than it's ever been. He's taken the power from the first half last year and shown it alongside his added patience from the second half of last year. The overall BB% and Pitch f/x data looks similar to last years totals, but last year he had two distinct halfs, and it looks like he's putting the best of both worlds together.

 

The batflip, watching homers, and raucous celebration stuff is something I think the baseball establishment could stand to chill out over a little. I have the most fun watching when I see the players having fun and enjoying themselves. Now all that being said he's clearly a guy with a temper, and pride that makes it hard for him to back down from a conflict.The business with the Braves was about 50/50 people being jackasses all around, but what happened tonight is pretty much 98% on him. He's got a reputation now as a guy whose skin you can get under, and he has to recognize guys are going to prod at him and he can't rise to the bait. He made a mistake, and hopefully he learned something. I think the people who watch him everyday know his heart is almost always in the right place. He's certainly not a Nyger Morgan. It will be annoying to hear him get the overblown Puig disgrace-to-the-game treatment for a few days, but I guess that's the price you pay for having a winning team.

[two_three_the_count]

I like watching him play the way that he does. It's exciting. Baseball and baseball fans too often have a stick up their 2 hole.

 

What I don't like is this stuff leading to suspensions. No doubt Carlos is gonna miss some games because of what happened today.

 

And on the topic of what happened today, I'm not totally against unwritten rules, but this is just ridiculous. In the Atlanta incident, the Braves say your not allowed to admire your home run. Fine. In Pittsburgh, Cole says you can admire your home run but you can't admire a triple? OK....Think about that, if Gomez had booked it out of the box, it would probably be an inside the parker. Instead, its a triple and he's the one that looks like an idiot for not running. Cole should be thanking Gomez for not hustling.

 

And where was Ed Sedar? Brewers coaching staff gotta know this stuff is going to be happening. I would have liked to see Ed bear hug Gomez and push him off to the side towards the dugout. Instead it was the umpire. I don't know he probably still would have got tossed, but maybe you could avoid the inevitable suspension that comes from throwing punches.

[TheCrew07]

I watched it live, then I watched it again when Team Stream put the video up on my phone. I've also watched Gomez do that same stuff to players and coaches in A ball when he was on a rehab assignment. I was embarrassed at the T-Rat game, yea you're playing 4 levels down and took an A ball pitcher deep, act like you've hit a HR before. That's like a high school senior hitting a HR off some 13 year old in Babe Ruth and doing his bat flip/trot afterwards. I was especially embarrassed for him and the organization after the game when he was still jawing at the opposing coaching staff... Carlos just shut up and go take a shower.

 

I'll be the first to admit that Gomez isn't my kind of player, generally I'm not into the "look at me" guys, I prefer players that just quietly go about their about business. The uber personalities like Gomez and T-Plush don't appeal to me on personal level, not just in baseball, but across sports in general. He's my kind of athlete, I love his athleticism, but I think Carlos has serious ego and anger management issues. Today he does his bat flip and watches, then starts his trot and he wasn't to first base when the ball hits the wall (I want to say he was 2-3 steps away), but then he turns it on and is standing on 3rd at the end of the play.

 

I can understand Cole chirping at Gomez for watching a triple, I can even understand Carlos saying something back.

 

What I don't understand is getting kicked out of game and going ballistic because someone from the other team said something to you. He comes off as incredibly thin skinned and while he has a mountain of positive attributes as a baseball player, I could do without that part of his personality.

 

Dude you're on 3rd base, you hit the ball a ton... you won that battle, who cares what someone says about you or to you? Just keep your wits and play the game, you aren't helping the team from the clubhouse. That's not passion, it's stupidity.

 

He seems like he'd be a very easy guy to play mind games with like a Zambrano if you were an opposing player.

[young guns]

Sedar was trying to get Cole moving along. I dont mind what Gomez does at all. I'm all for fun playing a game.

[DoubleSwitch]

To the people saying Puig gets away with worse, Puig has gotten more hand wringing and downright contempt from the National media than any player with less than a year in the bigs in history. The fact that there are so many people lined up to defend Puig now is because the hatred got so hyperbolic and ridiculous it finally caused a backlash. I don't know if everyone has been following the news about some small time organized crime figures being involved in smuggling Puig out of Cuba. Bill Plaschke wrote a column in the LA Times basically arguing that Los Zetas are going to swarm Dodgers Stadium some night in the fifth inning and start shooting up the place to get to Puig, and that he's put every Dodgers fan at risk. I think Gomez has a long way to go before he inspires anything nearly as stupid to come out of a reporter's mouth.

[Warning Track Power]

The real issue I have with the whole situation is a man coming over and saying something and walking away and letting everyone else handle his words. Cole, in his post game comments, said he didn't swear at Gomez. If you listen to the Pirates broadcast it sure does sound like he dropped an f bomb about something. Don't mind the cussing or the anger from Cole. Just be a man and back up your words yourself. Don't let walk away from your words. Watch where Cole is in the entire situation. Sure seems like he ran his mouth, got called out and ran away.

[SRB]

To the people saying Puig gets away with worse, Puig has gotten more hand wringing and downright contempt from the National media than any player with less than a year in the bigs in history. The fact that there are so many people lined up to defend Puig now is because the hatred got so hyperbolic and ridiculous it finally caused a backlash. I don't know if everyone has been following the news about some small time organized crime figures being involved in smuggling Puig out of Cuba. Bill Plaschke wrote a column in the LA Times basically arguing that Los Zetas are going to swarm Dodgers Stadium some night in the fifth inning and start shooting up the place to get to Puig, and that he's put every Dodgers fan at risk. I think Gomez has a long way to go before he inspires anything nearly as stupid to come out of a reporter's mouth.

 

[sarcasm]"Al Qaeda is going to parachute into Miller Park to collect Ryan Braun's unpaid steroid tab" - Buster Olney[/sarcasm]

[Daubs]

Watch this video from earlier in the series:

 

http://m.mlb.com/video/v32164555/milpit-tabata-sends-an-rbi-double-to-center-field/?game_pk=380770

 

Are the Pirates being hypocritical turds? I think so....

[danzig6767]

Two of my favorite non-Brewers ever were Manny Ramirez and Ricky Henderson. Yea, i get that many fans didn't like the flair which both played with, but i simply found both to be very entertaining besides being great players. To me, baseball needs some big personalities to mix in with with the majority who are very humble and more stoic in their actions.

 

I generally like the passion and flair which Gomez plays with given how hard he also plays, but i didn't care for him trotting to first on a ball which didn't land over the fence. He said that he wasn't admiring the ball and instead thought it was going to be an out. I'm skeptical of that. Either way, i never begrudge any hitter who admires a bomb hit for a second or two, but if you are going to do that, the hitter better be sure the ball really is gone because it looks bad admiring a ball which stays in the yard, especially if the ball isn't caught and the guy doesn't get as far on the bases as he should have.

[ELCABALLO45]

Chipper Jones doesn't like Carlos Gomez either, I called him out on it. He didn't like it.

 

This was my tweet in the article.

 

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/04/20/chipper-jones-chimed-in-on-the-carlos-gomez-incident/comment-page-2/#comment-690854

[JackNicholson1974]

If Gerrit Cole ever pumps his fist and screams after an inning-ending strikeout I hope the benches clear and he gets punched in the mouth for being bush. Oh wait, the unwritten rules only apply to hitters.